The former PEB exam controller, booked for fraud, forgery and criminal conspiracy in the case, continues to be out of the police net for ‘lack of evidence’.

A key accused in Madhya Pradesh’s Vyapam scandal remains at the helm of a prestigious government engineering college, with whistle-blowers saying powerful politicians were protecting the official in the case which was handed over to the CBI by the Supreme Court this week.

Sudhir Singh Bhadoria was the exam controller of the state’s Professional Examination Board (PEB), or Vyapam, for three years until 2011 and now heads Indore-based Shri Govindram Seksaria Institute of Technology and Science (SGSITS) despite being named in the scam.

The Supreme Court ordered the CBI on Thursday to probe all cases related to the scam following a spate of mysterious deaths of accused, witnesses and whistle-blowers.

“Accusations can be made, but there are no evidences,” Bhadoria said.

At least 2,000 people have been arrested and another 500 are wanted in the case that was unearthed in 2013 with multiple rackets that helped candidates rig the examinations for money by employing imposters to write test papers, manipulating seating arrangements as well as supplying forged answer sheets.

“Prominent accused including Bhadoria continue to be out of police net and this is clearly because of political interference,” said former MLA and whistle-blower Paras Saklecha.

Watch: The A to Z of the Vyapam scam -

Bhadoria has been booked for fraud, forgery and criminal conspiracy while his successor at Vyapam, Pankaj Trivedi, is also an accused in the case.

State higher and technical education minister Umashankar Gupta, who’s also chairman of SGSITS’s governing body, said he inquired about Bhadoria’s status with the institute but was told the government could not directly intervene in the removal or appointment of a person on the post and there was no evidence against the accused.